Friday Brackets

WILLIAMSPORT, PA. - Messiah advanced three wrestlers into the semifinals at the Southeast Regional on Friday. The Falcons have a total of seven wrestlers still alive across the championship and consolation brackets with Josiah Gehr (125 lbs.), Stephen Maloney (149 lbs.), and Victor DeFrance (184 lbs.) going undefeated on the day to advance into the semifinals.
 
As a team the Falcons currently sit in first-place in the 20-team region with 71 team points, but things are close with Ferrum (66 points), Wilkes (63.5), Johns Hopkins (61.5), and Washington and Lee (58.5) rounding out the top-five.
 
The regional will wrap-up on Saturday with the action getting started at 10:00 a.m. in Williamsport. The top-three wrestlers at each weight class will punch their ticket to the National Championships in Roanoke, Va. from Mar. 8-9.
 
Alive and Well
Three Falcons made it through Friday's opening round and quarterfinal bouts unscathed with Josiah Gehr (125 lbs.), Stephen Maloney (149 lbs.), and Victor DeFrance (184 lbs.) advancing into the semifinals. All three wrestlers can punch their ticket to Nationals with a victory in the semifinals, ensuring at least a second-place finish.
 
Of the trio, only Stephen Maloney has been in this position before, when the junior took second at last year's Southeast Regional. Maloney has followed-up his runner-up finish in the region last year with a pair of dominating technical falls in the first two rounds of the regional this season. Maloney started his day on Friday by getting taken down by Southern Virginia's Ethan Workman in his first-round bout. Maloney quickly escaped and went to work, earning the next 18 points to advance to the quarterfinals with a 18-2 technical fall. In the quarters, Maloney claimed his second tech fall of the day with a 16-0 victory over King's Matt Sparks. A takedown just eight seconds into the period set the stage for five sets of nearfall points for the dominating victory.
 
Maloney will face Gettysburg's Colin Devlin in the semifinals. The two met in the regional last year with Maloney earning a 5-0 victory and also earlier this year when the Falcons hosted the Bullets for a dual. Maloney claimed a 7-4 decision in that bout on Dec. 7, 2018.
 
Competing in their first regionals, Gehr and DeFrance also advanced to their respective semifinals at 125 lbs. and 184 lbs. Gehr opened his day with an 11-3 major decision over Greensboro's Joey Ferigne before scoring a second-period fall of Johns Hopkins' Jeremy Berger in 3:48. Gehr took an 8-0 lead at the end of the first period against Berger thanks to a takedown and six nearfall points. In the second period he was taken down early in the period, but 30 seconds later to earned a reversal and sealed the match with a fall just seconds later. Gehr will square-off with Dylan Nuttall of York (PA) in the semifinals.
 
Victor DeFrance has taken advantage full advantage of his first opportunity at an NCAA Regional. The senior is looking to become Messiah's ninth-straight representative at the National Championships at 184 lbs., following in a line of wrestlers that includes, Tim Stewart, Josh Thomson, Ben Swarr, and Derek Beitz. DeFrance has done his part so far this weekend with a pair of victories to move into the quarterfinals of the regional. After making quick work of King's Isaac Mensah with a fall in 1:54, DeFrance claimed a hard-fought 10-7 decision over Dominic Farabaugh from Thiel. Late in the second period against Farabaugh, DeFrance trailed 5-4, but a reversal, escape, and takedown propelled him to the 10-7 victory.
 
DeFrance will square-off with former National Qualifier Isaac Morales from Johns Hopkins in Saturday's semifinal.
 
Battling Back
In addition to the trio of Falcons in the semifinals, Messiah has four other wrestlers still alive in the consolation quarterfinals with Nick Nunez (141 lbs.), Kevin Edwards (157 lbs.), David Stevens (165 lbs.), and Brian Shermeyer (174 lbs.).
 
Through one day of the regional, Edwards and Shermeyer have mirrored one another's journey through bracket. Both claimed a victory in their pigtail bout before dropping a tight decision in the first round of the championship bracket. Then in the consolation bracket, both earned falls before advancing to Saturday with technical falls. Shermeyer has two falls to his name, picking up one in his pigtail bout against King's Nicholas Price and another over Averett's Javian Moore in the consolation bracket. Edwards' consolation fall came against Thiel's Jason Miller in the third period.
 
Stevens and Nunez also took similar trips through Friday, winning their first match of the day before dropping their quarterfinal bout and later rebounding in the consolation bracket.
 
Nunez started his regional with a 9-2 decision over Pitt. - Bradford's Elijah Hernandez, but then dropped a tight, 3-1 decision in the quarterfinals before claiming a first-period pin over Michael Nagy (Washington & Jefferson) in just 1:49.
 
Stevens claimed a 10-4 decision in his first match of the day, before moving to the consolation bracket after dropping a major decision in the quarterfinals. A dominating 18-0 technical fall over William Merritt (McDaniel) followed to extend his stay at the regional to Saturday.
 
Finishing Their First Year
Messiah saw three of their freshmen complete their first year with the Falcons on Friday. Messiah's Dalton Daugherty (133 lbs.), Joe Embleton (197 lbs.), and Denny Karas (285 lbs) each earned at least one victory on Friday, but were unable to advance to Saturday morning, seeing their first campaign wrap-up.
 
Denney Karas earned a fall in just 52 seconds over Penn State - Behrend's Jake Kelly to start his regional and later earned a 4-2 decision in the consolation first round, but his run concluded in the consolation bracket against Southern Virginia's Alex Brunner.
 
Joe Embleton's first regional competition was highlighted by a 13-3 major decision over Averett's Christopher Mohr in the prelims and Dalton Daugherty claimed a controlling 19-3 technical fall against Devyn Giovengo (Thiel) in the first round.
 
What's Up Next
The Regionals conclude on Saturday with the top three wrestlers at each weight class earning a spot at the National Championship that will take place in early March. The semifinals and consolation quarterfinals will get underway on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.
 

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